The Editor desk

Posted: Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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CAT CHRONICLES: It seems that my commitment to publishing a statistically representative sample of pro and con "trap-neuter-release" letters has been interpreted by an advocate of that proposed method of controlling the feral cat population in Athens-Clarke County as an opportunity to create a potentially misleading impression in the public mind.

The bottom of a lengthy e-mail from a TNR advocate that came to my attention this week reads thusly: "(I)t appears that the (editorial page) editor of the Athens Banner-Herald has sort of sparked a 'contest' by saying he will publish letters to the editor on the issue in the proportion in which he receives pro/con letters. Please do send in letters to the editor with your comment/opinion on the issue."

My intent wasn't to spark a contest, but rather to provide assurances that the newspaper's editorial page wouldn't intentionally misrepresent the degree of support or opposition to TNR - at least in terms of the people motivated (on their own) to write letters to the editor. All that said, the official count of published and unpublished letters as of late Tuesday morning stood at 10 pro-TNR letters, and 10 anti-TNR letters.

AUDIO CATS: In case you haven't heard enough about feral cats, tune in to "Athens News Matters" on WUGA-FM (91.7/97.9) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, where TNR will be discussed by a panel of local journalists, including yours truly. Incidentally, I've promised the writer of the letter mentioned above that I'll mention the points she makes on TNR during the show.